Cotton-harvester.



H. B. BYRON.

COTTON HARVESTEB.

APPLICATION FILED OOT.11, 19091 980,596, Patented Jan.3,1911.

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COTTON HARVESTER,

APYLIOATION FILED 001311, 1909.

980,596, Patented Jan.3,1911.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

HAGAR B. BYRON, 0F DALLAS, TEXAS.

GOTTON-HARVESTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

Application filed October 11, 1909. Serial No. 522,018.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IIAGAR B. BYRON, citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Harvesters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in cotton harvesters. Its object is to provide a cotton harvester in which the cotton Will be picked by a plurality of pronged, rotating needles, carried by rotat .ing cylinders, adapted to travel one on each side of a cotton row, and having rotation communicated to them from the axle in such a manner that such rotation will be counteracted in the row by the forward travel of the harvester, thus making the lateral motion of the needles negligible.

Another object is to provide a cotton harvester, which in one trip along a row of cotton, will gather the greatest possible amount of cotton therefrom, without injury or breakage to the stalks and without gathering leaves or trash with the cotton.

Finally, the object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described that will be strong, durable, simple and efficient, and comparatively easy to construct, and also one in which the various parts will not be likely to get out of working order.

With these and various other objects in view, my invention has relation to certain novel features of construction and operation, an example of which is described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawin wherein:

Figure 1 is a side eIevation of the cotton harvester with the casing surrounding the same on the near side removed, and a portion of the casing in the rear part of the machine shown in section to show how it is adapted to the circle of the wheels. Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the machine, the floor to the front part thereof being omitted to show parts hidden thereby, and the floors of the bin in the rear being broken away to show the interior construction. Fig. 3 is a rear view of the machine, one of the bins being broken away therefrom to show the construction behind the same. Fig. 4 is a top View of a portion of one of the cylinders, showing a pair of oppositely disposed needles mounted therein, and the fixed racks upon the shaft central in the cylinder, which impart inverse rotations to the gears carried by the needles at different stages of their path of travel. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the same.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, wherein like numerals of refer ence designate similar parts in all the figures, the numeral 1 denotes the arched axle of the machine, which is upheld by the transporting wheels 2, journaled in the extremities thereof. The tongue 3 has its rear ex tremity attached to the center of the archedaxle, and is provided with a cross beam 4, from which is adjustably suspended on each side of the tongue, a vertical shaft 5, upon which is journaled a cylinder 6. The shafts 5 carry at their upper extremities, fastenings 7 transversely slidable upon the cross beam 4 and secured by set screws 8.

In the walls of the cylinders are provided a plurality of bearings 9 at slight intervals apart, in which bearings are journaled the picker needles 10. Upon each of these needles within the cylinders are rigidly mounted two beveled pinions 11 and 12. The cylinders are rotated by means hereinafter described and in the course of their rotation, all of the pinions 11 upon needles at the same height upon the cylinder engage with racks 13 upon the under face of circular segments 14, and all of the pinions 12 upon the same needles engage with racks 15 upon the upper face of circular segments 16, oppositely positioned to the segments 14L. Thus for each circular row of needles upon a cylinder, two stationary, segmental racks are provided upon the shaft 5 with the outer of which racks meshes the pinion 11, and with the smaller inner rack meshes the pinion 12. The circular segments 14:, carrying the racks 13 on their under sides are mounted sufficiently above the segments 16 upon the shaft 5 to allow the pinions 12 to traverse the upper surface of the segments 16, and the pinions 11 to traverse the under surface of segments 14. It is obvious that the direction of rotation of the needles upon one rack is a reverse of that upon the other, owing to the fact that the pinions have their under sides meshing with the rack in one case and their upper sides in the other. Also it will be seen that the needles will have a much greater velocity of rotation when actuated by the pinions 11 than when driven by the pinions 12, due to the fact that the pinions 11 are farther from the center of rotation 5, and therefore traveling at a higher speed. The racks 16 upon the shafts 5 will be on the inside of the shafts; that is to say, facing each other, and toward the row of cotton. The racks let will be on the outside of the shafts 5 away from the cotton row. Thus it will be seen that the needles will rotate with a much higher velocity on the side removed. from the cotton row than on the side toward it.

The diameter of the circle of needle points is to be equal to the diameter of the transporting wheels and the gearing whereby the cylinders are operated from said wheels will be such as to cause said cylinders to rotate at the same velocity as that of the wheels. Since the rotation of the cylinders is such that the needle points travel rearwardly in the cotton row, this motion will be neutral ized by the forward travel of the machine, so that the needle points while in the cotton row will have a negligible lateral motion. This is an important feature as it enables the needles to pass in and out of the cotton row without exerting lateral pressure upon the stalks, so as to damage the same.

Each of the needles has upon its outer extremity a pair of deflected prongs 17, which when projected into the row in rapid rotation will wind up the cotton lint which they encounter. The needle will carry this lint out of the row, ceasing to rotate on leaving the smaller rack, and when the pinion 11 of the needle encounters the rack 13, its previous rotation will be reversed and considerably increased in velocity, causing the lint to be unwound and thrown from the needle. The belt conveyers 18 are adapted by a plurality of small points carried on their outer surfaces to receive this lint and deposit it in the two bins 19. The conveyers are mounted at their upper and lower extremities upon the pulleys 20, rotating upon shafts 21 at the bottom and shafts 22 at the top. The shafts 21 are stationary and are integral with the flanges 23, whereby they are attached to the casing. The shafts 22 are rotatable driving shafts, having one of their extremities journaled in boxes 24: at each side of the upper transverse portion of the axle, and the other in boxes 25 attached to the casing. Rotation is communicated to the shafts 22 through trains of beveled gears, 26, 27, 28 and 29. The gears 27 and 28 are mounted rigidly upon vertical spindles 30, which spindles have their upper extremities journaled in the lower surfaces of the boxes 24, and their lower extremities journaled in boxes 31 upon the lower arms of the axle. The gears 29 are fast upon the transporting wheels, turning therewith. The gears 29 also communicate rotation to beveled pinions 32 fast upon the spindles 33, mounted longitudinally with the machine. The rear extremities of these spindles are journaled laterally in the boxes 31, and the forward extremities in the boxes 34:, fast upon the lower extremity of the vertical shafts 5. Upon the spindles 33 are also mounted beveled pin ions 35, turning with the spindles and longi' tudinally adjustable thereupon. Each cylinder has rigidly attached beneath it a differential gear-wheel 36, having a plurality of teeth 37 arranged thereupon in concentric circles. The beveled pinions 35, by adjustment upon their shafts may be made to mesh with either the larger or smaller of the two circles of the teeth 37, a higher speed of rotation being imparted to the cylinders in the latter case.

Each of the needles carries upon its outer extremity a pair of deflected prongs, which as they contactwith the cotton, while rapidly rotating will wind u the lint, and retain it when withdrawn rom the row. hen the cylinders rotation has carried the needle with the cotton thus accumulated to the side opposite from the cotton row, the pinion 11 on the needle encounters the rack 13, and a rotation of the needle results, of inverse direction and of greater velocity to that produced in the cotton row. The lint is thus unwound from the needles and dropped. It is caught up by the belt conveyers and passes from the upper extremity thereof into the bins 19.

In Fig. 4, the numeral 38 denotes a needle having a form slightly modified from that of the needles 10. An additional pair of prongs 39 are provided, whose object is to collect cotton as the needle is being withdrawn from the cotton row, the deflection of the prongs being the reverse of that upon the extremity of the needle. Moreover, a plurality of small barbs 4:0v are provided to the stem of the needle, the purpose of which is to gather the lint with which the slight lateral motion of the needle relative to the row, brings it in contact. Vhen the beveled pinions 35 are made to mesh with the smaller of the two circles of teeth upon the gear-wheel 36, the rotation communicated to the cylinders, has a greater velocity than that of the transporting wheels, so that the needles have an increased lateral motion in the row, and thus the action of the barbed needles will be more efiicient.

It is obvious that the above mechanism may be doubled or tripled so that the two or three adjacent rows of cotton may be picked at one trip of the harvester.

I am aware that changes may be made in the form and proportion of parts and details of the device herein-described and shown as the preferable embodiment of my invention without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages thereof, and

I therefore reserve the rignt to make such changes and alterations in said device fairly come within its scope.

hat I claim is:

1. In a cotton harvester, the combination with the frame thereof, of a pair of stationary, vertical shafts supported in said frame,

and transversely alined with the direction of travel, a pair of hollow cylinders rotatably mounted upon said shafts, mechanism eonnnunicating rotation to said cylinders from the transporting wheels, a plurality of pronged needles revolubly mounted in the walls of said cylinders, and projecting radially outward therefrom, two pinions carried by each needle within the cylinder, and two stationary racks for each circle of needles on a cylinder, said racks being of different radii, and one of them meshing with the top face of one of said pinions during a portion of its travel, and the other with the bottom face of the other pinion during a portion of its travel.

2.111 a cotton harvester, the combination with the frame thereof of a pair of stationary vertical shafts supported in said frame, and in transverse alinement with the direction of travel, a pair of hollow cylinders rotatably mounted upon said shafts, mechanism communicating a rotation to said cylinders from the transporting wheel, such that the velocity thereof is equal to that of the wheel, and the adjacent faces of the two cylinders travel rearwardly, a plurality of pronged needles revolubly mounted in the walls of said cylinders, and projecting radially therefrom, said needles being arranged in parallel circles, two pinions fast upon each needle within its cylinder at an appreciable distance apart, two stationary, segmental racks for each circle of needles on a cylinder, said racks being of different radii, with one of which racks the top of one of said pinions meshes and with the other of which racks the bottom of the other pinion meshes, a bin receiving the cotton, collected by each cylinder, and barbed belt conveyers conducting the cotton into said bins.

3. In a cotton harvester, the combination with the frame thereof, of a )air of stationary, vertical shafts supporte in said frame and transversely alined with the direction of travel, a pair of hollow cylinders revolubly mounted upon said shafts, differential gear-wheels rigidly attached to the bottoms of said cylinders, beveled gears rigid with the transporting wheels, beveled pinions meshing with said beveled. gears, spindles carrying said pinions, beveled pinions upon said spindles meshing with said differential gear-wheels, a plurality of pronged needles revolubly mounted in the walls of said cylinders, and extending radially therefrom, two segmental racks of different radii upon each of said vertical shafts for each circle of needles on the cylinder encircling said shaft, said racks being at opposite sides of the shaft upon which they are mounted and alined transversely of the machine, two pinions upon each needle within the cylinder, one of which is adapted to mesh at its top with one of said racks and the other at its bottom with the other rack, two bins receiving the cotton gathered by the needles of the two cylinders, and two barbed belt conveyers operated from the transporting wheels, and adapted to convey the cotton discharged from the needles into the bins.

4. In a cotton harvester, the combination with the frame thereof, of a pair of vertical stationary shafts in the front of said frame, and in transverse alinement with the direction of travel of the machine, a pair of hollow cylinders rotatably mounted upon said shafts, mechanism communicating rotation from the transporting wheels to said cylinders, of a velocity equal to that of the .wheels, and of a direction such that adjacent points of the two cylinders move rearwardly, a plurality of pronged and barbed needles mounted in the walls of said cylinders in circles thereupon, and extending radially therefrom, two beveled pinions upon each of said needles within the cylinders, two segmental, circular racks for each circle of needles on a cylinder said racks being of different radii, mounted at different heights upon said vertical shaft-s, with the upper of which the top of one of said pinions meshes and with the lower of which the bottom of the other pinion meshes, means wherein the cotton gathered may be stored and belt conveyers provided with projecting points adapted to receive the cotton, and convey to the said storage means. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HAGAR B. BYRON.

Witnesses:

J ESSIE KIRK, J 01in S. MURRAY. 

